LETTER FROM THE PURPLE SOFA
The power of the Cross that keeps giving.
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it Lord, that I should boast
Save in the blood of Christ my God;
All the vain things that charm me most.
I sacrifice them to His blood.
Every religion and ideology has its visual symbol which serves to illustrate
the history or beliefs. The cross was not the first symbol of Christianity, there
was so much fear amongst the new faith followers that they hid behind the
code of either a peacock, a palm, a dove or a fish, painted on the walls of
the places that they gathered; Why would anyone want to use the shameful
symbol of the cross that was used to execute common criminals, and it
wasn’t until the 2 nd century at least, that the symbol of the cross became the
universal mark of the Christian faith, not drawn on objects but marked on
themselves or others.
It has now become a part of our world, it stands with other faith symbols as a
short hand that reads
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church, one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead and life of the world to
come. Not forgetting we believe in the one true God eternal, the Alpha and
the Omega. Symbols are powerful, and there is none more powerful than the
cross.
I was helping to decorate the church building in readiness for our Easter
service and happened to look toward the alter. There on a high ladder, was
Matthew and steadying him at the foot of the ladder was Carol-ann(see back
cover) . My heart missed several beats and my soul instantly became healed
of any scar caused by the exhaustion of being both wife and priest in what
we all know had been an horrendous challenge of endurance for me. What
you did not know was that my faith in my ability to be either priest or wife had
slipped away and I was struggling to find my identity again.
I had prayed in the church building that morning, I had chatted to Ashley
about wanting God to speak clearly to me once again. So I asked trusted
friends to pray for me as I sat alone, just me, St Oswald.. and Ozzy the bear!
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